Slide gate assembly



March 22, 1966 w. L FLOEHR SLIDE GATE ASSEMBLY 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 -24.

Filed March 21, 1961 INVENTOR WALTER L. FLOEHR HIS ATTORNEY March 22, 1966 w. FLOEHR SLIDE GATE ASSEMBLY 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 21, 1961 INVENTOR WALTER L FLOE'HI? HIS ATTORNEY March 22, 1966 w, L FLQEHR 3,241,499

SLIDE GATE AS SEMBLY Filed March 21, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG? INVENTOR WALTER 1.; FLOEHR HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent ()fifice 3,241,499 Patented Mar. 22, l. 966

3,241,499 SLIDE GATE ASSEMELY Walter L. Floehr, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to Unitcast Corporation, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Mar. 21, 1961, Ser. No. 97,134 13 Claims. (Cl. 105-482) This invention relates to slide gate assemblies for railway hopper cars and has for an object the provision in such an assembly of an improved frame of cast-weld construction, the main portion of which is a unitary casting castable without cores.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a slide gate assembly a cast-weld frame, a cast portion of which, castable without coring, is adapted to mount the mechanism for operating the gate.

An additional object of the invention is to provide in a slide gate assembly an improved mounting for the gate operating mechanism whereby the same frame is enabled to mount either a straight drive or a drive in cluding means to increase the mechanical advantage of the applied force.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved frame for a slide gate assembly, built up of cast and-structural parts, which is more economical to manufacture than and suitable to replace a conventional integrally cast frame.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter in the detailed description, be particularly pointed out in the appended claims and be illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of the slide gate assembly of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an end elevational view of the assembly of FIGURE 1;

, FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of the assembly of the previous figures;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along lines 44 of FIGURE 1 with portions removed and shown in section to more clearly illustrate certain of the details of construction;

, FIGURE 5 is a vertical sectional view taken along lines 55 of FIGURE 1 with portions removed and shown in section to more clearly illustrate certain of the details of construction;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along lines 6-6 of FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along lines 7-7 of FIGURE 6.

. Referring now in detail to the drawings in which like reference characters designate like parts, the improvements of this invention in the frames and associated structure of slide gate assemblies for railway hopper cars have been embodied for purposes of illustration in an otherwise typical slide gate assembly, designated generally as 1. The illustratedslide gate assembly 1 is comprised, typically, of a frame 2, fixed as by welding or riveting to and embracing the sides or side sheets 3 of a hopped 4 about a bottom opening 5 therein, and a slide or discharge gate or door 6 supported and slidable .or reciprocable substantially horizontally on the frame thehopper. Sliding through a transverse slot or iopening 7 in a front wall 8 connecting side walls 9 and forming therewith and a rear wall 10 the sides of the frame the slide gate 6 slides between open and closed positions on opposite sides 11 of and in closed position rests on an upwardly facing shelf or ledge 12 formed integrally with and extending substantially continuously about the sides of the frame. The slide gate6 overlies and is adapted to close a discharge opening 13 in the frame 2 bounded by the shelf 12 and the lower part 14 of the frame, which includes the shelf, terminates downwardly in a lower end portion or chute 115.

For driving, shifting, moving or reciprocating the slide gate 6 between open and closed positions along the guideor slide-way formed by the opposite sides 11 of the shelf 12, there are fixed to and preferably integral with the underside 16 of the gate a plurality of transversely spaced racks 17 each of which engages one of a plurality of pinions 18 fixed to a common drive or pinion shaft 19 carried by the frame below the gate-receiving or accommodating slot 7 and having its inner end journaled in a bearing 20 secured to an adjoining side 9 of the frame. conventionally, the opposite end of the drive shaft 19 projects or extends beyond the opposite side of the frame 2 and is connected, either directly or, as here, through differential or like reduction gearing 21, for increasing the mechanical advantage of the applied force, to a capstan 22 adapted to receive an actuating bar (not shown) to which force is applied. for actuating or turning the shaft.

For enabling the drive shaft 19 and with it the slide gate 6 to be driven either by a straight drive in which the shaft is directly connected to the capstan 22 or, as in the illustrated embodiment, by a drive including ,power means, such as the illustrated differential reduction gearing 21 of the type shown in my Patent No. 3,021,798, issued February 20, 1962, interposed between the shaft and the capstan, the illustrated assembly includes an adapter or adapter plate 23 for mounting a drive of either type or characteristic, depending on the demands of the particular installation. The adapter plate 23 is removably fixable or securable by welding, riveting or like suitable means to the outside of the frame 2 and has an integral boss or bearing 24 inturned toward the frame and receiving and journaling the outer end portion of the shaft. With the boss 24 instanding from its inner or frame-confronting face 25, the adapter plate 23 has on its outer face 26 about its bore 27 through which the drive shaft extends, an annular abutment or shoulder 28, forming with the boss a hub of the plate and adapted to bear against or engage either the capstan 22 or the inner gear 29 of the gearing 21 fixed therebeyond to the shaft and so limit inward axial movement of the shaft. In the case of the gearing 21, the abutment 281 preferably is recessed as at 28a about the bore 27 to rotatably accommodate one of the welds 29a fixing the inner gear 29 at both ends to the shaft. The balance of the adapter plate 23 is formed by a preferably generally rectangular flange 30 projecting radially from the boss 24 or the hub formed in part thereby. Anchoring the adapter plate to the frame 2 by being welded or otherwise releasably secured thereto, the flange 30 also serves in installations such as that illustrated, as a mounting or base to which the housing 31 of the gearing 21 may be welded or otherwise releasably secured, and as well, as a closure or cover for the otherwise open inner end of the housing.

Whether driven directly off the capstan 22 or through intervening differential gearing 21, depending on the drive selected for a particular installation, the slide gate 6, over the outer limits of its longitudinal movement relative of the frame 2, tends to angle, cant or tilt relative to the shelf 12 supporting it. To counteract this tendency, there are provided a pair of guide blocks or guides 32 each fixed to or made rigid with a side 9 of the frame 2 and spaced above and paralleling one of the guideway sides 11 of the shelf 12 with which it defines or forms a guide channel or groove 33 in which the adjoining side of the gate is contained or rides at all times. Held against relative tilting by the guide blocks 32, the slide gate 6 also is limited in its reciprocable movement to fix its closed position at one extreme and prevent its accidental detachment from the frame at the other. The first of these functions conveniently is performed by a pair of stop lugs 34 fixed to and upstanding from the slide gate outwardly of the frame and engageable with or abuttable against the outside of the frame 2 as the gate reaches closed position. The desired limit on outward relative movement of the gate, in turn, may be imposed suitably in the manner disclosed in my co-pending application, Serial No. 819,165, filed June 9, 1959, now Patent No. 3,089,435, issued May 14-, 1963, by interrupting one or each of the racks 17 adjacent its inner end so as to prevent turning of the drive shaft 19 beyond that point. It also is desirable that the slide gate be lockable in closed position and this is here accomplished by a latch pivoted to the frame 2 and swingable to engage the outer or front end of the gate. Conventional in its provision of means for preventing tilting and limiting longitudinal movement of the slide gate 6, the frame 2 also is conventional in having rigid with its lower end portion a boot fitting or attachment 36 through which a boot (not shown) may be attached to the chute 15 for directing lading discharged therefrom, the illustrated fitting partly surrounding or embracing the lower end of the frame and being channeled for reception of the boot.

While resembling the frame of a conventional slide gate assembly, the frame 2 of this invention is unconventional in its construction. The usual frame is constructed as a unitary casting of which such accoutrements as the guide blocks and boot fitting are integral components, As will be appreciated, this has required the use in casting of baked or hard sand cores to define the convolutions not formable in green sand by patterns which must be withdrawn from the sand on completion of the mold. Although accepted practice in casting steel, castings requiring cores necessarily are more costly than those made in molds formed entirely of green sand, since each core not only must be separately formed and baked from special sand but also must be carefully positioned in the proper part of the basic green sand mold. Cost and performance going hand in hand, a reduction in the former is as important as an improvement in the latter in the commerical success of a device. It is this consciousness of cost that has motivated the efforts of the steel castings industry to attempt to design, as replacements for unitary cast structures, so-called cast-weld structures in which rolled or structural steel shapes are welded to castings formed in molds entirely of green sand. This effort as applied to the frames of slide gate assemblies has resulted, for one, in that of Dorey Patent No, 2,753,815, only the chute of which is cast, the balance being formed of structural Shapes welded to the casting.

Although the components of cast-weld structures, green sand castings and structural shapes are inexpensive relative to cored or green and baked sand castings, a large entry determining whether a cast-weld replacement is commercially feasible, in addition to the cost of welding itself, is the cost of the jigs by which the parts are held in proper relative position during welding. An ideal frame therefore would be one formed mainly or predominantly of a green sand casting with a minimum of structural shapes and welding needed to complete it.

Of cast-weld construction, the frame 2 approaches the above ideal much more closely than prior frames of this construction. Thus, instead of having only its chute cast, the frame 22 is formed mainly or predominantly of a unitary or integral casting 37 coterminous vertically with it and has as its structural shapes welded to the casting only a channel iron or member 38 joining the sides and forming the front end above the gate slot 7 of the upper part of section 39, the guide blocks 32 and the boot fitting 36. Yet the casing 37 is the desired green sand casting formed in a mold made entirely of green sand, its three-sided, opened-front upper portion forming three sides of the upper part 39 of the frame, its lower portion forming the four-sided lower part 14 of the frame and the shelf 12 at which these portions merge all being formable by patterns in a green sand mold. Inside the frame, except at the front, but outstanding from the portions of the frames sides included in the lower part 14, the shelf 12 at the front bounds or defines the lower side of the transverse slot 7 through which the gate slides into and relative to the frame. In turn, the upper side of the slot is bounded by the lower flange 40 of the forwardly or outwardly facing channel member 38 closing the front and forming the front end of the upper part 39 of the frame. Welded not only to the side walls at opposite ends of the slot 7 but to the adjoining side sheet 3 of the hopper 4 along which its web 41 extends, the channel member 38- in the final composite structure performs, and as effectively, all the functions of the integral front end of the upper part of a conventional cast frame. The remaining structural shapes included in the final structure, the guide blocks 22 and boot fitting 36, although made rigid with the casting by being welded or otherwise secured or fixed thereto, compare as favorably as the channel member 38 with their integral counterparts in a unitary cast frame. With the channel member 38, guide blocks 32 and boot fitting 36 made separately, the casting is given from end to end a stepped configuration uninterrupted by transversely opening grooves or like vertically bound of limited cavities or indentations that would inhibit its casting in a green sand mold devoid of coring. I

The freedom from vertically limited indentations of the casting 37 at large also characterizes its mounting of the drive mechanism for the slide gate 6. In keeping, the bearing 20, fixed or secured to the inner of the side walls 9 and journaling the inner end of the drive shaft 19, fits in a downwardly opening recess or socket 42 in that wall. correspondingly, the other or outer side wall 9 has a downward-1y opening recess or socket 43 for receiving the boss 24 of the adapter plate 23 serving as the bearing for the outer end portion of the shaft. However, as opposed to the recess 42 in the inner side wall which fits snugly about its bearing 20, the recess 43 in the outer side wall loosely receives or accommodates the bearing-forming boss 24 of the adapter plate and the latter is secured to the adjoining side wall through its radial flange 30. To provide a mounting for the flange, there are outstanding from the outer face of the outer side wall 9 of the frame casting 37 at opposite sides of the recess 43 in that Wall, a pair of transversely spaced ribs or flanges 44 which extend vertically substantially to the upper and lower ends of the casting and the outer ends or edges 45 of which, with the intervening portion of the upper edge 46 of the outer side wall, form a downwardly open, outwardly facing, vertically directed, substantially planar seat, base or mounting against which the adapter flange abuts and to which it is conveniently secured by welding. Since the pper part of the outer side wall slopes outwardly, the portion thereof included between the ribs 44 defines therewith a cavity but, since this cavity is not bounded or limited at the bottom, it is as readily formable as the balance of the casting 37 in a green sand mold.

From the above detailed description, it will be apparent that the-re has been provided an improvement in slide gate assemblies by which the frame of such an assembly is enabled to be made predominantly of a green sand casting and the drive mechanism of the assembly is modifiable to suit the requirements of a particular installation. It should be understood that the described and disclosed embodiment is merely exemplary of the invention and that all modifications are intended to be included which do not depart from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a slide gate assembly, a cast-weld frame comprising a unitary green sand casting free from core-formed vertically limited indentations and substantially cotermious vertically i h nd mainly forming said frame, said casting including mounting means for mounting thereon drive mechanism of said assembly and having a downwardly opening recess for receiving a shaft thereof, and structural shape means welded to said casting.

2. In a slide gate assembly, a cast-weld frame comprising a unitary green sand casting free from core-formed vertically limited indentations and substantially coterminous vertically with said frame, said casting having a lower portion closed at the sides and an upper portion open at the front, said casting including mounting means for mounting thereon drive mechanism of said assembly and having a downwardly opening recess for receiving a shaft thereof, and a structural shape welded to and closing said front of said upper portion and defining with said lower portion a gate-receiving slot.

3. In a slide gate assembly, a cast-weld frame comprising a unitary green sand casting free from core-formed vertically limited indentations and coterminous vertically with said frame, said casting having a lower portion closed at the sides and an upper portion open at the front, said casting including mounting means for mounting thereon drive mechanism of said assembly and having a downwardly opening recess for receiving a shaft thereof, and a forwardly facing channel member welded to and closing said front of said upper portion and having a bottom flange defining with said lower portion a gate-receiving slot.

4. In a slide gate assembly, a cast-weld frame formed mainly of a green sand casting free from core-formed vertically limited indentations and coterminous vertically with said frame, said casting including mounting means for mounting thereon drive mechanism of said assembly and having a downwardly opening recess for receiving a shaft thereof.

5. In a slide gate assembly, a cast-weld frame formed mainly of a green sand casting free from core-formed vertically limited indentations and coterminous vertically with said frame, said casting including mounting means for selectively mounting thereon any of a plurality of different drives for drive mechanism of said assembly and having a downwardly opening recess for receiving a shaft thereof.

6. In a slide gate assembly, the combination of a castweld frame formed mainly of a green sand casting free from core-formed vertically limited indentations, said casting including a seat having a downwardly opening recess for receiving a drive shaft of said assembly, and an adapter secured to said seat for selectively mounting any of a plurality of different drives for driving said shaft.

7. In a slide gate assembly having a slide gate and a drive shaft connected to said gate for drive thereof between open and closed positions, the combination of a cast-weld frame formed mainly of a green sand casting free from core-formed vertically limited indentations, said casting including a seat having a downwardly opening recess for receiving said drive shaft, and an adapter secured to said seat and journaling an outer portion of said drive shaft for selectively mounting any of a plurality of different drives for driving said shaft.

8. In a slide gate assembly having a frame, a slide gate slidable in said frame and a drive shaft connected to said gate for drive thereof between open and closed positions, the combination of a vertically directed seat rigid with said frame and extending above a seat therein for said gate, said first-named seat having a downwardly opening recess for receiving said shaft, and a unitary adapter secured to said first-named seat and journaling an outer end portion of said shaft for selectively mounting any of a plurality of different drives for driving said shaft.

9. In a slide gate assembly having a frame, a slide gate slidable in said frame, and drive mechanism including a drive shaft for driving said slide gate between open and closed positions, the improvement comprising a planar seat rigid with and at a side of said frame and extending above a seat thereon for said gate, said first-named seat having a downwardly opening recess for receiving said shaft, and a unitary adapter securable to said first-named seat for journaling said shaft and selectively mounting on said frame any of a plurality of different drives for driving said drive mechanism.

10. In a slide gate assembly having a frame, a slide gate slidable in said frame, and drive mechanism for driving said slide gate between open and closed positions, the improvement comprising a vertically directed planar seat rigid with said frame and extending above a seat thereon for said gate, said first-named seat having a downwardly opening recess for receiving a drive shaft of said mechanism, and an adapter securable to said first-named seat and journaling an outer end portion of said drive shaft for selectively mounting any of a plurality of different drives for driving said mechanism.

11. In a slide gate assembly having a gate, a cast-Weld frame comprising a unitary green sand casting free from core-formed vertically limited indentations, said casting including a lower portion closed at the sides, an upper portion open at the front, a shelf on said lower portion and merging with said upper portion for slidably seating said gate, and a seat for mounting drive mechanism of said assembly and having a downwardly opening recess for receiving a shaft thereof, a channel member Welded to and closing said front of said upper portion and defining with said lower portion a gate-receiving slot, and guide means welded to sides of said casting above said shelf for guiding said gate on sliding thereof on said shelf.

12. In a slide gate assembly having a gate, a cast-weld frame comprising a unitary green sand casting free from core-formed vertically limited indentations, said casting including a lower portion closed at the sides, an upper portion open at the front, a shelf on said lower portion and merging with said upper portion for slidably seating said gate, and a seat for mounting drive mechanism of said assembly and having a downwardly opening recess for receiving a shaft thereof, and a plurality of structural 0 shape means welded to said casting for, respectively, closing the front of said upper portion and defining with said lower portion a gate-receiving slot, guiding said gate on sliding thereof on said shelf, and receiving a boot for guiding lading discharged through said frame.

13. In a slide gate assembly having a frame, a slide gate slidably supported on said frame, and a drive shaft connected to said gate for drive thereof between open and closed positions, the improvement comprising a planar seat rigid with and at a side and extending substantially to an upper extremity of said frame, said seat having a downwardly opening socket intermediate sides thereof for receiving said drive shaft, an adapter plate having a hub receivable in said socket for receiving an outer end portion of said shaft, and a flange integral with and projecting radially from said hub and securable to said seat for supporting said outer end portion of said shaft on said frame.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,372,720 3/ 1921 OConnor -311 2,340,519 2/ 1944 Dorey 222-56 1 2,493,393 1/1950 Dorey 113-116 2,638,060 5/1953 Dorey 105-282 2,640,438 6/ 1953 Dorey 105-305 X 2,738,739 3/1956 Dorey 105-282 2,753,815 7/ 1956 Dorey 105-282 3,110,270 11/1963 Ingram 105-253 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner. JAMES S. SHANK, LEO QUACKENBUSH, Examiners. 

1. IN A SLIDE GATE ASSEMBLY, A CAST-WELD FRAME COMPRISING A UNITARY GREEN SAND CASTING FREE FROM CORE-FORMED VERTICALLY LIMITED INDENTATIONS AND SUBSTANTIALLY COTERMINOUS VERTICALLY WITH AND MAINLY FORMING AND FRAME, SAID CASTING INCLUDING MOUNTING MEANS FOR MOUNTING THEREON DRIVE MECHANISM OF SAID ASSEMBLY AND HAVING A DOWNWARDLY OPENING RECESS FOR RECEIVING A SHAFT THEREOF, AND STRUCTURAL SHAPE MEANS WELDED TO SAID CASTING. 